Status: It's kinda complicated (Discontinued)
by Yoonggi
Summary: Kojirō Shinomiya goes back to Japan after another stagnant year in France. After coming back to Japan he's felt with another fleeting emotion that he once buried before he left: Love. Rekindling with Hinako Inui, the young chef asks himself if love was worth another shot after failing to confess in his first try?
1. Chapter 1

**Another series I'll be starting, hope you would read and review; thanks again for the continual support!**

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Prologue

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' _From: Kojirō Shinomiya_

 _Hinako, I hope you're doing well. Best regards, I hope you do well in cooking in your next year since it will be your graduating year. Hinako I won't be seeing you for a while so this might be the last time I get to text you, France would take up too much of my time so I don't know if I can still call or text you. I'll miss you. Truly, from the bottom of my heart you've made my life better. You made cooking fun for me again, I can't thank you enough.'_

"I can't believe this… I didn't even get to say goodbye to him…" Hinako whispered, reading the text that her senpai just sent her. Her heart ached, even though they never said a word about romantic feelings Hinako still tried her best to show to her senpai that she cared for him deeply. She shut off her cellphone and cried herself to sleep that night. Pulling her pillow close to drown out the sobs, Hinako couldn't come up with a reply. She had just found out earlier that her senpai would be leaving for France tomorrow. If she could make him stay with her she would, but that would be too selfish of her since it was always Kojirō's dream to open up a restaurant in France. _It was obvious that he would be accepted there_ , she thought. He was the best out of their generation! Graduating as the 1st seat of the Elite Ten was no laughing matter, he held onto the prestige of it while juggling his time, he was amazing.

"Kojirō you meanie… Now how am I supposed to catch up to you?" she whispered again, slowly feeling that heaviness of her red puffy eyes. She was already asleep when Kojirō texted her on the night after his graduation. They were on vacation too, so there wasn't a way for Hinako to just meet up with him and spend the summer after he graduated. It was a doomed idea, her idea of convincing him to stay. Nevertheless she hoped against all odds that he might stay if she would confess to him, bitterly laughing at herself at the stupid thought.

"Yeah right… As if you would even feel the same…" she grumbled.

' _To: Kojirō Shinomiya_

 _That's great… I hope you do well in France, I know you would but I can't help but worry sometimes. Try not to be too grumpy uptight alright? Don't forget to eat 3 meals a day too! Sometimes you're so immersed in cooking that you forget to eat. I'll miss you too… I hope you can comeback soon, Kojirō-senpai.'_

Sending the text that she finally made, Hinako resigned off to sleep. Tired and just feeling all the more lonely now that her senpai and crush would be leaving. _Crush_ it's a nice feeling the thought. But the thing about having a crush is that first, you have to be willing to get crushed yourself. Hinako had been crushed multiple times, but from Kojirō? She never thought that it would hurt this much. She tried sleeping, although the thoughts that came to her were nothing but silly moments of her and Kojirō laughing and cooking.

"I hope you come back soon…" she silently prayed to herself, repeating the mantra over and over again until it calmed her nerves. She kept her phone close by in case he ever texts again. It was a long shot by now in this hour '3:08PM' it read on her phone. He wasn't texting her anytime soon. He's going to need all the sleep he can get when he leaves for France. Hinako sighed and tried her best to sleep. Her phone suddenly beeped again and in anticipation she gritted her teeth and saw that the message was from ' _Kojirō Shinomiya'_ her heart did almost leapt out of her chest when she saw the message. Opening her phone up, she saw another rather long message from her senpai.

' _From: Kojirō Shinomiya_

 _Hinako, I know you're probably crying and worrying about me right now by the look of your text. Really, I don't know what to do with you. Look, you can't possibly miss me this much. One day we'll see each other again and by that time you'll be your own successful woman and have a restaurant of your own. Me on the other hand, Hinako I want to go back to Japan when I've achieved my dream; I want to strive for that Pluspol award. It's going to be a long road, but I'm really thankful that I've met you. This isn't goodbye okay? Just… It's just an 'I'll see you later'. Anyway, don't treat me like a kid you know I don't like it when you scold me, thanks for the concern though. Goodnight Hinako, I hope you weren't too held up by me texting you all of a sudden… I just felt kinda lonely.'_

"Still a meanie… How can I sleep now when you go and say that…" she whispered, shutting off her cellphone and drifting off to sleep from all the exhaustion that she felt.

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"Fuck… I'm such a coward…" Kojirō Shinomiya, the once uptight and composed chef of his generation scolding himself over his kouhai. He had planned it, before he would leave for France he would confess to Hinako that he likes her. She was his rock who tied him down whenever he was going up too high for his own good. She was his cane that supported him in times of self-doubt. Most of all she was the first girl he ever truly liked apart from his mother.

Kojirō Shinomiya made a promise that day. That these harboring feelings he had for Hinako Inui would be long buried when he reached France. He promised so that he could focus on his dream, _she was a distraction_ he told himself. It was a horrible lie that made him feel sick. But he had to swallow the bitter pill that is denying his feelings. Never again would he let himself become a coward. One day maybe things would be alright again…

"Maybe… Maybe one day I'll come back to you and tell you how I feel…" he whispered. After being done packing his suitcase that he would bring to France, he faced a mirror and saw himself staring back. The young man in front of him taunted him with a smirk on his face.

 **' _You will never escape your lie Kojirō. YOU love the girl.'_** The mirror told. Smirking devilishly and brandishing its knife, Kojirō Shinomiya, still stoned faced was unfazed. Kojirō sighed and went to sleep. This would be the last time that he would ever think about his romantic feelings for Hinako Inui, even if it was just a mere _crush_. I'll try and forget he thought, it was for his own good but still he struggled to accept it.

~ End

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 **Just so you guys know, this is another one of my side projects that I'm working on. This focuses more on the chemistry between Shinomiya and Hinako (i'm quite the sucker for these two) anyway yeah, that's about it and I hope I did good on making the fic interesting and fun to read. Have any suggestions? Don't be afraid to tell me thru PM or reviews. Thanks a bunch again for reading!**


	2. STORY UPDATE NOTICE:

Hey there! So here's a small notice incoming for you guys:

The story will get a complete overhaul. I'm currently editing out a few chapters so that the story is more formatted and easier to understand! I'll remove this chapter once I've updated the other chapters! Please stay around before then, I really appreciate all your support!

Anyway, another update for my other stories:

Cherry Hunt: Acente! – Will also be getting a complete overhaul and update, I'll keep you posted and updated on it once I get started

Status: It's Kinda Complicated: - Will be continued and be done minor tweaks.

NEW STORY ANNOUNCEMENT!

I will be re-writing Bird In A Cage! It's still connected to After Years, but the story would focus more on what happened in the manga and what's currently happening. So check it out when I update that. I know plenty of you all like my works ;) Love you guys!

 **P.S: Joichirou and Soma's mom will get a one shot story soon! I have so many ideas for this fandom that I just keep on popping them out of my laptop!**

Much love, False Ends


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